Search the Community

Went to Billings Productions in McKenny Tx. They are a dinosaur animatronics company.Here are pics. #1 Sculpting.

Hi I'm thinking of becoming a Paleornithologist when I'm older, I've just got a few questions for any people in this profession on here: I know the term 'paleornithologist' isn't actually a real title for a job, but something along the lines is what I mean. (Paleontologist that studies relationship between birds and dinosaurs.etc) Because I really love birds and dinosaurs and the evolutionary science behind the relationship. 1. With your work, how often do you go out an do field work/study? Eg. Capture birds and examine them? 2. How does a student studying ornithology/paleontology find themselves in a position like this? 3. How often do you get to work with theropod dinosaur fossils and paleontologists? 4. I know this is kind of a private question, and it doesn't have to be answered ; is your salary comfortable to live with? For example if you were to travel or raise a family? 5. How does an ornithologist get themselves 'higher in the ranks' when starting off? Any answers are appreciated, Thanks!

Wanting to see what y'all think. The "bone" was found on the north side of San Antonio, the "footprint" was found in the Texas Hill Country near known dinosaur footprints. Are these fossils?

This dinosaur tooth from Cenomanian of Kem Kem, Morocco, was purchased as dromaeosaur tooth, but, looking through some articles I thought, that this could be also from ceratosaur - Deltadromeus (sensu lato of course, I know that its skull material wasn't found) or abelisaurid. Can anyone help me with ID, please? Labial and lingual sides; view on mesial (left) and distal serrations.

Hi guys. To my understanding it's common theory that dinosaurs weren't entirely reptilian and most of them carried some sort of plumage. I'm wondering if there's evidence that dinosaurs had scales at all(?) or maybe because they were theorized to be entirely reptilian for the longest time was it assumed they had scales? I've tried to research this a little but I figured I'd learn more (accurate) information talking with you guys. Thanks in advance. EDIT: Excellent links, exactly what I was looking for. I'm sorry if I appear lazy but I'm watching a 1 year old and he's in to everything(!) can't leave him alone for a minute. Much appreciated!

So i recently made my fossil display look a bit nicer, and here´s the result, i took inspiration from some of the displays here on the forum (even if mine isn´t nearly as good or creative as some i have seen here), anyways, here it is: Also, the text in it is all in Swedish, which is pretty obvious considering i live in Sweden. So here´s an exterior view: Atop of it sits a cast of a Nedoceratops skull, i don´t think i have seen many casts of this species (for some reason, the "casters" decided to be a little artistic and made the 2 holes in the frill into 4 holes, i still wonder why): Here´s the "Dinosaur" shelf (expect this one to get more full as time progresses): Here´s the "Reptiles and Sharks" shelf, i know that there´s empty space on this one, mainly due to me not having too many shark and reptile fossils, maybe i´ll get my hands on something Pterosaurian or Plesiosaurian... And the final shelf, with Invertibrates, all my bought ones aswell as my "best" self-found ones:

Hi everyone! My name is Lauren and I am from Houston, Tx. I am 23 and have a Masters in Marketing and BFA in graphic design. I have loved dinosaurs for as long as I can remember. As a little girl, my best friend was not a Barbie doll but my 3-ft tall Jurassic Park Tyrannosaurus Rex! I have always been fascinated by dinosaurs and continue to be to this day. I recently began collecting fossils. I started with Megalodon teeth and sort of branched out to dinosaurs/megafauna from there. I currently only buy from Ebay and hope to learn of new places from members on here. I would love to learn how and where to find fossils myself rather than always buying them, so perhaps I can find information on that as well. In addition, I would love to hear suggestions for interesting reading material! I look forward to being a part of these forums and am excited to learn new things! Cheers, Lauren P.S. I've attached a picture of my favorite megalodon tooth! It's 6.02 in!

Prehistoric Planet, a land lost in time. Multi-millionaire Dennis Cooper has been researching the Bermuda triangle for years, then he finally realizes where the different ships and planes have disappeared to; they have been sent back in time. After years of work, he finally accomplishes his dream, a time portal that leads to the age of Dinosaurs. Cooper has set up base on an island, he calls it, “Prehistoric Planet” but only known to the Public as “Project X”. After years of research, and all the latest technology, something has gone terribly wrong. Someone inside Prehistoric Planet is pulling some dangerous strings, and it’s only a matter of time before the time portal closes, forever... (Excerpt from Prehistoric Planet) Jonathan has noticed that the climate is slightly warmer, and more humid than before the flash occurred, but maybe it was side effects from whatever had just happened. The boat finally comes to a complete stop beside the dock, and they begin to unload. As they get off the boat, Dennis points out a gas powered jeep, “We will be riding in those” He said Jonathan looks in the direction Dennis is pointing, the jeeps are light brown in color with designs of leaves and trees around the edges. Inside, the seats are covered in water proof leather, six seats in all. Jonathan glances around the car, it has state of the art technology, and bumper to bumper it is covered in many electronic devices that he has never seen before. He sees the Jeep has an automatic shift, with a touch screen between the drivers and passenger seat, and in some of the pockets he can see multiple field guides. He takes a closer look at the books, and notices they are field guides to dinosaurs, prehistoric animals and plants, and prehistoric environments. He flips through one of the books, they are full of notes jotted down, it looks like they are correcting the books in some way. But why would they need to correct these books, it was all rather odd to Jonathan. Jonathan continues to inspect the car, and his eyes are drawn to the large off-road tires, “Wow” he said in shock, he’s never seen such off-road tires before, they look like they could be used for virtually every kind of environment the Earth would have to offer. Jonathan especially impressed with how strong the metal was on the outside of the car, it felt like titanium, and yet, the two inches of titanium had dents in it. Jonathan looks at the dents, trying to figure out what could have caused them. Lex and Dennis are already in the car, beckoning him to join them. Jonathan hops into the car and takes a seat beside Lex in the back of the jeep; a pair of binoculars hangs from the seat in front of him. He looks at Lex, who is looking behind her; a sleek metal case sits comfortably in the trunk, it is covered in several warning labels. She looks at the driver in confusion, whose face is covered in freckles, and his red hair can be seen sticking out of the edges of his Atlanta Braves baseball cap. She taps him on the shoulder, and he looks at her through a pair of dark sunglasses, “What’s this?” asked Lex, gesturing to the box “That”, said the driver over his shoulder “is a tranquilizer gun” “What’s it for?” “Protection” he said with a smile Jonathan looks back at the case with the tranquilizer inside, he notices one of the labels says that it contains wildnil, a fluid used to sedate animals as large as elephants, but the dosage listed on the label is almost twice as much. Jonathan continues looking at the label in confusion, what kind of animal needs that much wildnil? The cars continue to drive along the dirt road that leads into the jungle. Lex looks around; this jungle is much different from jungles she has seen in the past. Her grandfather had taken her too many jungles around the world, yet she didn’t recognize many of these plants. The Island had a tropical environment, with lots of exotic plants. The jungle was alive with sound, hoots and squeals from different animals, she has even noticed in some places steam is simply raising from the ground. “Why is there steam coming out of the ground in some places?” asked Lex “Ahh yes, the Island is Volcanic” Said Dennis, “This part of the island has some steam vents, but other parts have more steam, and a few geysers” “Volcanic?” Said Jonathan in worry “Don’t worry”, Said Dennis calmly, “The volcano hasn’t been active in a couple hundred years, there’s nothing to worry about” The cars continued along the dirt path that seemed to cut right into the jungle, Jonathan can see that the road has been cut as level as possible, and covered nicely with a layer of gravel, the ride is still quite bumpy. Now I know why they needed those tires, thought Jonathan with a smile. “Take us to the prairie” Dennis said to the driver, “There should still be some there” what should be there? “So where exactly are we?” asks Jonathan “You’ll see soon enough” Dennis replies with a smile. The jeep continued along a path, and then took a right turn. The climate has begun to change a little since they first arrived, a majority of the island was tropical, but now it was changing to a more savanna like ecology. The trees were becoming more spread apart, and they could see the open grassland just beyond the trees. As they drove through the last of the trees and into the grassland, the car slowed to a stop. Jonathan looks around, the grassland stretches for miles, and in the distance he can see mountains, covered in a heavy fog. To the east, rising above the palm trees, Jonathan noticed a single trunk with no leaves, just an enormous, twisted trunk. Then the stump began to move, and then it twisted around to face the new arrivals. They realized they were looking at the long, curving neck of an enormous animal, rising fifty feet into the air. They were looking at a Dinosaur. - - - - - “Wow” Lex said softly the first thought that occurred to her was how beautiful and extraordinary the creature was. Dinosaurs were normally portrayed as dumpy, frightening animals, but this long-necked animal had gracefulness in all its movements. The sauropod peered alertly at them and made a low moaning sound, rather like a whale. As if in reply, more heads appeared above the treetops, a third, and then a fourth! The animals were huge! Big as a house! The Dinosaurs continued to graze amongst the tree tops, and with their long, moaning cries. Jonathan began to laugh “What is it?” asked Dennis in worry, “Is something wrong?” Jonathan just shook his head; he was astonished by the fact that he was actually seeing a dinosaur. He was still laughing when a fifth and a sixth head rose above the trees. The Sauropods watched the people arrive; they reminded Jonathan of oversized cows. They had the same pleasant, rather clueless gaze, and stood there, grazing in the trees. From the distance, they heard their long, graceful calls again, echoing through the air. “There beautiful” whispered Lex One of the juvenile Sauropods approaches them cautiously, gazing at them through its large brown eyes. Jonathan is amazed at the size, even though it is still an infant, it towers above them, and Jonathan estimates the height to be about twelve feet tall. It makes a short trumpeting cry as it continues to inspect the humans. One of the adult dinosaurs replies, beckoning it back to the herd. The young sauropod glances at them one more time, then slowly, but gracefully, lumbered back towards the herd. Lex watched as the adults gently welcomed the juvenile back with nudges and sniffs. Johnson quickly made his way towards Lex and Jonathan, “Guys, we should probably proceed to the compound” “Yes, it’s about time” The group climbs back into the Jeep as it begins to drive back into the jungle. Lex and Jonathan continue to watch the dinosaurs, until they can see them no more. Jonathan looks up as the jeep passes under a large, steel archway with bold letters that read, “Prehistoric Planet”

Not too long ago there were some questions concerning the legality of any Chinese or in this case a Mongolian dinosaur skull. I have clipped the short article from the Denver Post, March 26th, 2014 paper for your... consideration.

In the computer game I Can Be A Dinosaur Finder, there's a game where you make the dinosaurs play five kinds of music (Prehistoric, Rock n' Roll, Country, Classical, Jazz). Since Parasaurolophus used its crest to make sounds like a trombone, would it plausible to say that the dinosaurs played prehistoric music by making sounds with their crests and using their tail clubs to hit the ground like a drumstick?

I live in Slovenia. I've been visiting this forum from time to time. Finally, I've decided to join and share my experience and thoughts. My main interest are the Mesozoic tetrapods. Above all: the dinosaurs. I am a paleo illustrator and a dinosaur ichnologist. You can learn more about me here: Mesozoic Mosaic Beri's dinosaur World (BDW)

I am an antique dealer, and I see fossils often but never had purchased any. When this lot came along it looked really good and I couldn't let it go for what I paid for it. I am clueless when it comes to fossils and would like a little help with ID'ing some as well as discussing values and where I may be able to send them to sell (Fossil Auctions, personal, ebay act). If you could look at the pictures and let me know what you think I would really appreciate it. Here is what I know about it: Large collection Assembled by J. Gilmore in the late 1950's Received 10-15 awards for best in show ect. Collected in Southeastern, Ohio Have binder with a Key and information on fossils. Binder is Titled "Invertebrate Paleontology" Looks like teeth, spines, bones, shells, ect

The 10 day dig at Wasson Bluff, where the oldest dinosaurs found in Canada can be found, wrapped up last Sunday. Many interesting finds were made and lots of people contributed to make this dig a successful one. Dr. Tim Fedak posted on the Earthquake Dinosaurs's blog a very good summary of the successful project. Click on the link to check it out! http://earthquake-dinosaurs.ca/volunteers-and-science/ I was very proud to have participated in this project! Cheers! - Keenan

Hello Everyone, Unfortunately, this year I haven't really been able to go hunting much - only managing to make a couple of trips this year. Over the Christmas period I visited some of my family in Hastings, which is on the South Coast of England. Hastings beach is a little known fossiling area; which can produce some stunning finds in the right conditions. It is one of the few places within the UK where you can find dinosaur bones, but they are pretty rare - you need rough winter storms to stand any chance of finding them. I apologise in advance for the lack of location photos – it was so freezing; my hands couldn’t bear the cold! I’ve hunted three times previously at Hastings, every time I have returned empty handed, although I’ve heard stories of people finding spectacular dinosaur bones… I set off onto the beach on 24th December, the tides were ideal with low tide just having been. My family (for some unknown reason!) didn't fancy spending Christmas Eve on a very murky beach in the pouring rain, so it was just me and Mother Nature. The rain was looking eminent, and there was a gloomy loom over the entire beach. I made my way onto the beach and the rain was already setting in. The cliffs at Hastings are incredibly breath taking; they tower over the whole beach. There are three sections to the beach; nearest the cliff, in the centre, and at the water’s edge. In the past I’ve typically hunted in the middle section of the beach. I did this for a period of around 15 minutes, before I decided I would head slightly towards the cliffs (whilst maintaining a safe distance); to see whether there was anything there. I looked around the rocks, the beach is composed mainly of flint and huge boulders – it just didn’t look like the right territory to find bones, so I headed out towards the section of rocks that were at the tidal line. At this point the heavens opened, and a delicious shower of tepid rain fell upon me – this soon soaked through, and I began to lose any warmth that I had. I decided that this was a majestic moment, and I wasn’t going to be put off by a light shower (or, even a heavy shower!). I proceeded towards the sea and started picking up plausible looking rocks (although I didn’t have much idea of what I was looking for, I thought it would be tennis ball sized black rocks). The rocks that I was plucking from the sea’s grasp were underwater at the time that I unsettled them from their location. This meant that I couldn’t see the rocks until they were released from the sea’s grip – every time I picked up a rock there was a little flow of excitement that rushed around my body, only to be extinguished by the reality that I’d found yet another lump of flint… This carried on for a while; all the mean time my hands were slowing turning numb and the rain soaked into my already saturated clothing. I then spotted another lump, and I picked it up – I had picked up around 10 plausible pieces by this time – as it surfaced from under the water I could see that it was another lump of flint. I was just about to move on to a new patch, until I spotted a plausible lump. I went to pick this lump up… …as I picked this lump up and dragged it out from under the water a flow of excitement rushed over me, and this time, it didn’t fade! I had found a dinosaur bone. I looked at the candidate again, attempting to retain my balance, and I took a deep breath realising that I’d managed to find a genuine piece of British dinosaur. I was quite overwhelmed to say the least. Here is the piece that I had found: I then started heading back towards the car as my time was running out. Every five steps I took I had to retrieve the bone from my pocket to check that it was real (it didn’t disappoint)! As I was making my way back to the car I continued to search amongst the rocks on the foreshore in the tidal line. I was in total disbelief of finding my first piece of dinosaur from Hastings, upon which I stumbled across a siderite nodule which looked suspiciously as if it contained yet more bone! By this time the light was fading and I couldn’t really make out whether what I was seeing was bone or if it was just markings on the nodule – I grabbed the lump and made my way back to the car. I trudged back to car, soaked to the max, to meet my parents. They greeted me as if I was some bedraggled oddity which enjoyed spending time alone on a beach in the pouring rain – their rather bemused greeting didn’t dampen my spirit; I was too thrilled with my finds. I then washed the siderite nodule, which confirmed that my suspicions were indeed correct, and I had found another bone (or should that be bones!?). Here are the photos of my second find: All in all it had been a highly successful trip that I thoroughly enjoyed – in my opinion there was no greater way to spend Christmas Eve. If anybody could help with identifications it would be greatly appreciated. The fossils are from the Wealden Group; although beyond that I struggle to add any information. I know dinosaurs such as Iguanodon have been found there. I hope you enjoyed reading my report, and my ramble wasn’t too annoying! All the best, Joe

Field geologists break rocks, bones while searching for dinosaur fossils in Alaska by Doug Hissom, Baltimore Post-Examiner, Oct. 16, 2102 http://baltimorepostexaminer.com/field-geologists-break-rocks-bones-while-searching-for-dinosaur-fossils-in-alaska/2012/10/16 Other web pages Alaska Dinosaurs (BLM) http://www.blm.gov/ak/st/en/prog/culture/paleontology/dinosaurs.html Rich, T. H., 2008, Tunnelling for dinosaurs in the high Arctic. Deposits Magazine. vol. 16, pp. 18-22. PDF file at http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/ak/aktest/culture_res/culture_pdfs.Par.56968.File.dat/deposits_mag_08-2008_issue16.pdf Arctic Dinosaurs (NOVA – PBS) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/arctic-dinosaurs.html http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/filming-dinosaurs-in-alaska.html Re: Colville River, North Slope Alaska, Dinosaur Fossils Questions http://dml.cmnh.org/1995Apr/msg00035.html http://dml.cmnh.org/2001Aug/msg00337.html The Strange Lives of Polar Dinosaurs by Mitch Leslie Smithsonian Magazine, December 2007 http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/polar-dinosaurs-200712.html The dinosaur killing field of northern Alaska by Ned Rozell / Alaska Science Forum http://www.newsminer.com/view/full_story/7368363/article-The-dinosaur-killing-field-of-northern-Alaska- Recent Book Gangloff, R. A., 2012, Dinosaurs Under the Aurora. University of Indiana Press, University of Indiana, Indianapolis, IN. Best wishes, Paul H.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121011151625.htm Hadrosaur teeth more complicated than previously thought. Interesting article.

MSU grad student awaits report on his 'dinosaur eggs' the Dispatch, Columbus, Mississippi, Sept. 20, 2012 http://www.cdispatch...y.asp?aid=19090 http://www.cdispatch...e.asp?aid=19090 Best wishes, Paul H.

Time And Tide Wait for No One by Michael Gorman Herald News, Nova Scotia, Canada, August 4, 2012, http://thechronicleh...wait-for-no-one Faulted Bones Ancient Earthquakes by Palaeontologist Tectonics and Evolution in the Bay of Fundy http://earthquake-di...dinosaur-bones/ Earthquake Dinosaurs - https://www.facebook...hquakeDinosaurs Best wishes, Paul H.

Discovery of fossilized dinosaur footprints gets int’l recognition Korea Herald, June 13, 2012, http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2012/06/113_112869.html http://view.koreaherald.com/kh/view.php?ud=20120613000722&cpv=0 http://french.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2012/06/12/0200000000AFR20120612003300884.HTML The paper is in "Tracking on the Korean Cretaceous Dinosaur Coast: 40 years of Vertebrate Ichnology in Korea" Ichnos An International Journal for Plant and Animal Traces, vol. 19, no. 1-2. Yours, Paul H.

Fossils of bird-like dinosaurs discovered in Australia New York Daily News, May 18, 2012 http://india.nydaily...ed-in-australia Dinosaur fossils discovered in Queensland's south-west put state in spotlight by Brian Williams, The Courier-Mail, May 17, 2012 http://www.courierma...f-1226358162503 First-Ever Discovery of Ceratosaur in Australia Sci-News.com, ‎May 8, 2012‎ http://www.sci-news....ticle00300.html and http://www.australia...ry-dinosaur.htm The killer dinosaurs of south-eastern Australia Physorg, May 17, 2012, http://phys.org/news...-australia.html Benson, R. B. J., T. H. Rich, P. Vickers-Rich, and M. Hall, 2012, Theropod Fauna from Southern Australia Indicates High Polar Diversity and Climate-Driven Dinosaur Provinciality. PLoS ONE. vol. 7, no. 5, e37122. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0037122 http://www.plosone.o...al.pone.0037122 Yours, Paul H.

Tireless tracker rewrote the book on dinosaurs in Maryland by Brian Vastag, the Washington Post, April 19, 2012 http://www.washingto...RcTT_print.html and http://www.washingto...tors_picks=true Related papers Stanford, R., R. E. Weems, and M. G. Lockley, 2004, A New Dinosaur Ichnotaxon from the Lower Cretaceous Patuxent Formation of Maryland and Virginia. Ichnos: An International Journal for Plant and Animal Traces. vol. 11, no. 3-4, pp. 251-259. Abstract at http://www.tandfonli...420940490428797 Stanford, R., M. G. Lockley, and R. E. Weems, 2007, Diverse Dinosaur-Dominated Ichnofaunas from the Potomac Group (Lower Cretaceous) Maryland. Ichnos: An International Journal for Plant and Animal Traces. vol. 14, no. 3-4, pp. 155-173. Abstract at http://www.tandfonli...420940601049404 Best wishes, Paul

Unusual Dinosaur Eggs Are Shaped Like Easter Eggs by Dave Mosher, Wired News, April 6, 2012 http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/dinosaur-easter-chicken-egg/ Dino eggs shape Easter eggs, says new study PhysOrg, April 5, 2012 http://phys.org/news/2012-04-dino-eggs-easter.html http://scienceblog.com/53133/dino-eggs-shape-easter-eggs/ Lopez-Martinez, N., and E. Vicens, 2012. A new peculiar dinosaur egg, Sankofa pyrenaica oogen. nov. oosp. nov. from the Upper Cretaceous coastal deposits of the Aren Formation, south-central Pyrenees, Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. Palaeotology. Article first published online: 13 MAR 2012 DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2011.01114.x http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-4983.2011.01114.x/abstract Best wishes, Paul H.

---Prologue--- Milky Way Galaxy 25,000 years ago A spiral galaxy, one of the billions of islands of stars moving across the dark matter that is known as the universe, it rotates like a huge galactic wheel, pulling countless stars within its titanic gravitational pull. This particular galaxy is known as the Milky Way, 100,000 light-years across and 1,000 light-years thick. Like a grain of sand pulled by an ocean current, an asteroid races through the galaxy. The asteroid measures nearly seven miles in diameter, and has been moving through the galaxy since the dawn of time, passing planets and other asteroids. It is now on a collision course with a medium sized planet. The planet is still millions of miles away, but the asteroid is approaching quickly. The planet is warm and tropical, and also has an abundant source of water, oxygen, and life. The asteroid hurdles towards Earth, nothing can stop it. When it impacts, it will cause world-wide destruction and chaos. The countdown to extinction has begun.